B&B Dad

I’ve already told you how nice B&B Dad was when we arrived at the Missouri River Lodge. Well, his family’s generosity never stopped and we were the only ones here so they were extremely flexible with us. Fortunately for B&B Mom and I, they have kids who were overjoyed to see our kids arriving! A lot of rules were broken on this account, like their 3 year old boy hanging out in “guest quarters”, digging through Little Man’s suitcase for more pirate dress-up stuff, and Little Man hanging out behind the kitchen in their private house, searching for more Spider-Man dress-up stuff. Also, they’re used to getting Lewis & Clark clientele – mostly older couples or British people – so they were a bit perplexed by our West Coast family ways.

Food is a great example:

At breakfast, B&B Dad had raised eyebrows when I said the kids didn’t put sugar on their cereal. Then he asked if I needed anything particular for lunch and I said, “No, but do you happen to have any apples?” The kids were dying for fruit, which was nowhere to be found. He didn’t, but he had to go to town anyway and didn’t mind bringing some back. Our kids only get Annie’s, but they were thrilled with Kraft Mac’n’Cheese and more sliced apples for lunch!

For dinner, he’d planned steaks, baked potatoes and salad, and when I accidentally paused too long, he begged for my thoughts. I finally said that he didn’t need to get fancy for us. Niece is a vegetarian and our kids are little and don’t eat much. I said, “How about pasta with no sauce, the salad and more apples?” Finally, after I agreed to at least eat his steak, he said, “Well, that’s different. I never heard of just eating noodles and salad for dinner. I know how to make meat and potatoes, but I don’t know how to do fruit.” I must say he and his 15 year old son served up a delicious dinner. My steak and potato were incredible and they served the most amazing spinach with strawberry salad. (I actually have a recipe for this salad at home but his was particularly tasty.) Niece and the kids were thrilled with their fettuccine noodles, apples, rolls, salad and grilled asparagus.

This entire experience made me think of Everything is Illuminated -- a great book and a great movie -- with a hysterical steak and potato scene!

Well, it wasn’t until we drove to the Knife River Indian Festival (our first time driving in the daylight) that I realized just how far B&B Man had had to drive to get us some apples – 22 miles each way!